European Space Agency selects CGI and partners for civil security study

The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected CGI, the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications and Heinrich Hertz Institute as its partners for a new study on how the use of space technologies can help speed up and streamline crisis management response efforts on the ground.

The goal of the study is to provide the European Space Agency with insights on how satellite communication and earth observation services can be used to power better civil security decision-making, particularly focused on crisis situations. “Our goal is to ensure that crises management first responders and civil security teams can quickly obtain important information – whenever and wherever it is needed,” said Stephane Pirio, a leader at ESA.

Data related to civil security purposes is used by a wide range of public agencies, including Defence, Police, major transport hubs such as airports and ports, and agencies that oversee disaster management and national security risks. “The aim is to empower the different players in the realm, while enabling them to acquire, monitor, and administer a variety of services.”

Two use cases will be central in the study. One use case will focus on detecting areas afflicted by fires, while another will focus on modelling precipitation runoff.

The study also has as its goal to assess the potential benefits of building a digital marketplace that rapidly executes requests for data from satellites and earth observation platforms.

CGI, the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications and Heinrich Hertz Institute will develop a roadmap for the digital marketplace and design a prototype. The prototype will bring together data from a wide variety of sources including satellites, drones, maps, data on infrastructure, geodata, weather and environmental data, online databases, blogs, and social media.

“Drawing upon our experience in supporting clients globally with natural disaster planning and recovery programs, we will develop the feasibility study and support in delivering more efficient and effective ways to organize rescue operations during humanitarian crises,” said Ulli Leibnitz, Senior Vice President for Consulting Services at CGI and Head of the Space practice in Germany.